The ongoing construction of the Standard Gauge Railways reminds one of the Kenya Uganda Railway whose construction brought Indians to Kenya and with them money, the cash economy, towns and the police force.
Indians introduced tea, chapati, dukas, wines and spirits. Did you also know there were no rats before muhindis made Biashara Street — then called Indian Bazaar — their business base?
Indian Bazaar was then a dusty, tin affair and “immense amount of work required in converting an absolutely bare plain... 327 miles from the nearest place where a nail could be purchased, into a busy railway centre,” noted railway engineer Colonel J.H. Patterson in his 1907 book, The Man-Easters of Tsavo.
The rats sneaked in and became part of the luggage the Indian Coolies carried enroute to build the Uganda Railway in Kenya. These rats caused the bubonic plague of 1902 leading to the burning down of the Indian Bazaar.
Back to the Uganda Railway. It made businessman Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee so wealthy supplying materials during its construction from Mombasa to Kisumu between 1896 and 1901.
Without any journalistic training, but with more money than he could ever use in his lifetime, Jeevanjee decided to start a newspaper, The African Standard, in Mombasa as a weekly broadsheet which first was published in November 15, 1902 with Englishman W.H. Tiller as the reporter, sub-editor, proofreader, editor, advertising and circulation manager.
Tiller oversaw circulation of The African Standard throughout British East Africa (Kenya and Uganda) and German East Africa (Tanzania) and some districts in Eastern Congo.
But did you know an angry Jeevanjee (who gifted Nairobians with Jeevanjee Gardens) sold it for 50 cents! Reason? The African Standard was labelled a ‘gossip’ newspaper following Tiller’s criticism of the British Foreign Office in Kenya leading to loss of credibility as a source of national and international news — would you believe it!
Anderson & Mayer were the lucky buyers of a whole newspaper business for sumuni!
Did you also know that a copy of the East African Standard was buried beneath the foundation stone (alongside colonial coins) when the Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) was upgraded to resemble England’s Winchester Public School in September 24, 1929? This superstition was for good luck.
In case of Nairobi’s All Saints Cathedral, its foundation stone was laid by Sir Henry Conway, the Governor of Kenya in 1917.
A document was buried beneath the foundation stone with the words: “God grant that this church of All Saints may now and always be a house to promote the greater glory of God... and that from it may the waters of life flow for ages for the salvation of the faithful of Nairobi and the whole nation.”
